I go the factory installed alarm. It actually costs less that way since the dealership would charge me more to install if I got it after being built. My MA told me that while we were configuring the car together. I had wondered why the alarm was priced two ways in the configurator.

 

OK, so my MA finally called us and notified us that the MINI is in. We have an appt tomorrow night to take her home! Woohoo! It's the wife's car, but she'll be gone next weekend, so she'll be all mine for a few days!

 

I think you're right about the clear bra. I've looked at it on other makes of car in my area and their owners swear by it. I think it's important that it be of 3M quality and I would be more comfortable with it being installed professionally. In my opinion, I would cover the whole hood and not just part of it. Also, I like to cover the headlights, bumper and the paint underneath the door handles to prevent scratches, etc.

I also think it slightly enhances the color underneath like thick clear coat. My biggest concern when my car arrives that I will have to drive it 200 miles before it gets home and I am praying I don't end up with some rock chips and a lot of bugs -- which reminds me -- the bugs are easily to clean off the clear bra as well.

 

Just got back from Tacoma, with a bunch of good news, most surprisingly that Seattle is finally getting it's own dealership. Lake City is getting one sometime this year. yay.

Also, it looked like a lot of cars had come in (10-15), and we weren't the only ones picking up today. Car is great, other than the fact that they were out of the sport stripes at the dealer (thrown in, so dealer has to install) and i'll have to come back for them. I picked the car up without the stripes since i just sold my other car this morning and didn't want to get stranded.

Anyway, car is great, and it went smooth with NW Mini. Hopefully your car will be ready before the weekend, but good luck as i'm sure you'll like it.

 

i highly recommend Griot's Bug Guard. I have the clear bra on my Clubman, but I applied the Bug Guard to the front area, mirror covers, grille, front part of roof (never on the windshield though) before a 700+ mile trip to Southern Arizona. What a breeze to clean the bugs off when I got home. I used Zymol wax on Otto when I got him, but the Bug Guard made a huge difference and the grille just had no bug remnants. A simple wash took it all off.
Also I highly recommend Clarity for the windshield cleanup. Never saw any window cleaner this good. The washer fluid wouldn't touch the bug guts, but Clarity cleaned it off like magic!

By the way, I bit the bullet and had the dealer install the Clearbra as I had a 130-mile drive home and was worried about chips. It did protect one spot in front, so I'm glad I opted for them to do it.

 

Where did you get the Bug Guard and Zymol?

 

Thanks for the good wishes. I hope you enjoy yours too. I'll keep my eyes open for a pepper white clubman.

The new dealership will be owned by the same people that own MINI NW, so it won't improve bargaining power for new purchasers. But it will definitely make things more convenient. I live in Everett or on Whidbey Island (on the opposite side of Seattle from the nearest MINI dealer for you CA and AZ folks), depending on the time of the year, so the run down to Tacoma for service and/or warranty work was a daunting proposition.

I suspect my car may be ready by the weekend, but I opted for a next week mid-week pickup to give my MA some breathing room to get his inspection and orientation done.

 

I ordered the Bug Off from Griot's Garage catalog. You can call them at 800-345-5789 or go to www.griotsgarage.com. Lots of great goodies for our babies. My husband got me the bucket with the grit guard as a homecoming gift for the Clubbie.
I buy Zymol directly from the company. I originally got it for my BMW, but as it lasts so long I'm using it on the Clubbie too. It is the only food-grade wax. Once you smell their products you get hooked, despite the cost. The wax is stored in the fridge and it is so easy to apply and remove without having to wait for it to dry. The directions are to apply and remove it in the direction of the wind on the car. Fun stuff.
With the size of the bugs in Arizona, we need protection!

 

Thanks for the feedback. OK, I think I'll have them install the clearbra. Apparently the normal charge includes covering the front portion of the bonnet, the lower bumper, the headlights, the fog lights, the rear view mirrors, and the edges of the doors. I'm a little concerned about heat from the turbo so I think I'll forgo the entire hood (I've read about hood scoops on early R56s deforming due to the heat.)

Unfortunately, I believe the clearbra will also prevent me from installing stripes so that's the trade-off.

If you guys are interested, but are put off by the $800 dealer charge, there are some other threads around here that describe how to install it yourself. The material cost is about $50, I think. I've read various degrees of satisfaction with (DIY) results and with the amount of effort involved. Mostly, it seems to require two people and a lot of patience.

An intermediate solution may be a lower cost installation. I've read somewhere around here of professional jobs for about $250 (as I recollect). But I dread the logistics of getting the car someplace for the install and uncertainty of the quality, so I think I'll have the dealer do it before I pick the car up.

 

[quote=()()==;2228398]Thanks for the feedback. OK, I think I'll have them install the clearbra. Apparently the normal charge includes covering the front portion of the bonnet, the lower bumper, the headlights, the fog lights, the rear view mirrors, and the edges of the doors. I'm a little concerned about heat from the turbo so I think I'll forgo the entire hood (I've read about hood scoops on early R56s deforming due to the heat.)

Unfortunately, I believe the clearbra will also prevent me from installing stripes so that's the trade-off.

If you guys are interested, but are put off by the $800 dealer charge, there are some other threads around here that describe how to install it yourself. The material cost is about $50, I think. I've read various degrees of satisfaction with (DIY) results and with the amount of effort involved. Mostly, it seems to require two people and a lot of patience.

You can still put stripes on the car. See my gallery. It won't hurt anything. Mine are under the clearbra, but they can be put over it too. The only problem with putting it under the bra is that if you want to remove the stripes you will have to replace the clearbra. It doesn't really affect washing or waxing. I'm just careful to get the wax off the light seam. Really no problem.
The installation of the clear film over the lights is not as easy as it looks because of the curved lenses. I bought the kit, but couldn't do it. I took it to a professional. He got it on the headlights ok, but the lower fog/parking lights were a bear. He finally had to use the film they use for curved areas that has little v's cut into it. He was frustrated as he never had any film defeat him before.

 

I'm still awaiting to hear from MA if my car is ready for today. He was on vacation until noon today. Glad to hear fellow Tempe residents have appointments to get theirs today. Hope to see you there.

 

My car is at the dealer and needs to have an accessory installed. Apparently the only person who knows how to install it is out today. Geez Louise! It takes 4 hours or so if you know how to install it so not sure how much longer it takes if you don't know how. In any case, I really hope they can get it put on today so I can pick up tonight. One more day won't kill me but it is hard knowing it is so close but yet so far. I was patient up until today.

 

I just got the same news. I'm picking up MINI tomorrow night after work.

 

What color is your car? Mine is PW/PW (Pepper white).

It's 3:30 and I am feeling a bit more relaxed now. This morning it bugged me that I may not get it tonight, but now I have resigned myself to assuming I won't get it til tomorrow. Sooo....if I do get it tonight it will seem like a good treat.

 

Dark Silver Body, White Roof, Dual Sun Roof with Chrome Mirrors. I got the traditional checker upholstery but upgrade to the fluid silver plastic instead of stock checker pattern. Its much better knowing when, then to have the carrot in front of you that it could be today. I'm a little happy to wait though. Its actually supposed to rain today in Phoenix..yeah...rain. I'm from back East where rain is rain. Here its actually more like mud. I'm happy to wait if it means it gets to stay clean a little longer ;-).

 

It just rained in the West side where I work so hopefully the rain will be all gone by the time we take delivery tonight.

 

Looks like isolated T-Storms tonight 30% chance of rain. You should be good. The car I spent 7 hours detailing for trade got stuck in the West side rain this afternoon. Que Sera, Sera. Have fun tonight, remember camera.

 

Yeah, remember camera. Speaking of which, where are the pics from you other Isoldees who have already picekd up? So far only LaLaMINI has blessed us with nice pics...

 

Hi All --

Well, I finally picked up my Clubman after work today. REALLY glad the wait is over, to say the least. My first impression while driving it from the lot was that it's a far better quality vehicle than I remember from the test drive (not sure what else I would expect). What an awesome little machine! It's strange to build something in the virtual world and then have it arrive in the physical one. It's almost like I wished it into being. Anyway, I couldn't be more pleased -- well, unless I could take the rest of the week off from work with pay just to drive around all day.

Anyway, glad to see that the AZ folks all finally have the end of their wait in sight.

I wish everyone a lot of happy miles.

 

Check out my gallery for a few more pictures. The wife didn't want to her pictures on here so you get my goofy face instead! She and I both love it! Hope everyone gets theirs soon!

 

Awesome reveal. I have a feeling I am going to spending a lot of time in the passenger seat too after my wife learns to drive stick. Glad to see you got the stripes already. Most folks I've read have to come back for them. Congrats. Can't wait to pull the covers of mine this evening.

 

Nice car aem! Thanks for posting pics.

You will have so much fun with your new MINI.
Cheers-

 

I finally took delivery of mine today!!! I am so tired right now, (I think I am emotionally exhausted from all the excitement).

I was at the dealer for almost 2 hours going over everything, buying a couple fun accessories (MINI clothes, etc), and learning how things worked.

When my MA was setting up my personal preferences, we discovered that one of the keys wouldn't register a setting he did on the other key. Also, they installed the wrong illuminated door sills in the car. AND on top of that, they didn't work. For some reason they had trouble downloading the software needed to make them illuminate when you open the car. Soooo, I have to go back and have them fix that. I would rather have the car now and go back on the weekend (maybe go to the mall while waiting) than have to wait longer for delivery.

Also, he paired my iPhone with the bluetooth and we tested it out. NICE! I had the radio on playing off my iPod and when he gave me a test call it shuts the music off and I answer it from my steering wheel. Ahhh, modern conveniences!

Anyway, all in all it has been a fabulous day, and I am another proud MINI owner from the All Aboard Isolde crew.

-Sherri
p.s. pics soon-

 

I'm happy for you Drummergirl. I too received my MINI last night. I got there at 6:30 and left at 10:00. Not their fault, I had a lot of questions. I got Prem. Pkg and Conv. Pkg so the 'automation' of certain things were a little confusing at first. Luckily everything went really smoothly. I found out they would only take $500 for my Civic so we opted to sell is privately instead of trade. I have a bunch of pics but the camera is in the car. I'll get it at lunch. Some fun stuff I learned. The hidden compartment. I'd heard about it with some sort of iPod thing. I didn't realize it was even there until he opened it. Perfect spot for rented movies. I also didn't realize the pathway lighting colored lights were standard. Feels like a MINI limo in there at night. My dealer just called and helped me setup my Sirius radio, so thats purring nicely now. Oh and for anyone thinking of replacing the antenna, the stubby 2" Alta antenna is working nicely in Phoenix. Happy for everyone. pics soon.

 

Awesome! How is everyone enjoying their rides? I'm hoping I can take some nice shots over the weekend. I have been having fun showing off my MINI! and driving all over town. The 'new car' smell, however is starting to make me dizzy... hehe. Hope to see more pics soon.